How Big White gets groomed

• Skiers displace a lot of snow
• Big White’s elevation allows for plenty of powder

Ahead of opening day at Big White, there’s plenty of activity before the first guests arrive.

Groomer drivers, in particular, play a key role in getting the snow ready on the famous slopes.

Jesse Blackstaffe, who has groomed with Big White since 2004, told Kelowna10 the elevation and consistency of the snow is what keeps him at the resort.

“We constantly don’t have to worry about rain as much as other places, we don’t have to worry about where that rain line is with such a high base elevation,” Blackstaffe said. “It seems when everyone else has a bad season we still have decent snow. It’s just a consistent snowfall and it’s really nice.”

There are many groomers working throughout the season, including two shifts on the main groomers working eight hours on afternoons and three on the midnight shift.

Other machines work on the steeper hills and terrain park ten hours a day.

Blackstaffe compared the challenges of a lack of early season snow to a sand box, implying they need to fill in all the gaps.

“Weather challenges early in the season are all about whether we have enough snow to bury rocks,” he said. “There’s lots of summer erosion control that we have out on the hill we need to fill to make the runs smooth.”

The grooming vehicle is the same machinery as a tractor, but built like a bulldozer or excavator.

“We have implements on the front, along with the blade which is like a shovel that does all the pre-work, he said “On the back we have a tiller, and that acts like a rake, and it makes a nice pretty finish.”

Blackstaffe said his job is highly important, because what most people don’t know is skiers move a lot more snow than they think they do.

“If we didn’t do this job, you wouldn’t have any left at the top to ski on. They move it one way with gravity and skis moving it downhill, and our job is mainly to move it back up and make it fun again.”

Big White opens on Friday.